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elections

My voting station is in SRB Tung Hua and all the hype about indelible ink (or rather the delible nature of the ink) has made it the central topic in my mind.

I flew back to Sibu to vote in the GE13 (13th General Elections) yesterday and I’m flying back to KL later. I had changed my address here coz I think the Opposition has a good chance in my constituency. There’s three (3) candidates for the 212 – Sibu seat – DAP, BN and an Independent.

Ling took a video of me this morning letting off a fireworks rocket – I guess that much tells you which party I voted for. ;)

(For those unfamiliar with Malaysian politics, DAP’s logo is a rocket taking off)

I don’t even know Oscar Ling, the DAP candidate for my constituency – I wanted to vote for change, so I voted for the party instead of the candidate.

I went to the voting station and got assigned a number. I was asked which hand I write in (I’m right handed) so I got the indelible ink painted on my left hand. It’s done on the opposite index finger.

I took the slip into the voting booth…

…and promptly put my left index print beside the DAP logo. -_-

Indelible ink has been on my mind all the while and I thought the new rules is to mark for the party you’re voting for using the ink. That doesn’t make sense at all coz:

Voting is supposed to be anonymous and having your fingerprint there isn’t anonymous

They wouldn’t have asked you for the *opposite* finger you write with if you’re meant to mark it

There are writing implements there, just like past elections

I somehow looked past all that and for some robotic reason put my thumbprint (or index print rather) for the DAP candidate.

Mom: Idiot! You’re like a first time voter, being so blur.Me: I thought that was the new rules instead of putting an X.

It’s okay though, I asked and old people have used their thumbprints or just put a single dot using a pen on the candidate they want to vote for in the past and it’s *confirmed* counted. It’s all good. :)

…and on the subject of the ink, it’s not really that indelible. I’ll say it’s hard to remove, but after a shower and two hand washes, it has faded. I’m sure a dedicated person can totally remove it.

Obligatory GE13 photo: Giving the finger to show where my support lies. ;)

I have blue ink all over the tissues and other stuff I touch when in contact with oil or water e.g. during lunch!

Update: 212 Sibu is won by DAP! The other major urban seat 211 (Lanang) was also taken by DAP with over 8,000 votes! :D
Unfortunately, the smaller rural areas didn’t swing due to lack of education and Internet access. This, I believe, will change in the future.

I’m in Sibu! I flew back with Ling early this morning and arrived at the airport so I can spend some time with my family (mom is flying back later tonight) before we all go to vote tomorrow. I think we might be voting for different parties but that’s the beauty of democracy ain’t it? :)

Anyway, I noticed that Chopsticks Chicken & Rice now has a new signboard. This is a place that has been around since my childhood! I remember eating the mixed rice there as a kid and chu cha (dai chow in Cantonese) when they moved over to Pedada.

However, what they’re really famous for is their chicken rice. My dad is a huge fan of it. There are scores of Sibu people who loves the chicken rice here. Lunch time will be *packed* with people ordering chicken rice and it’s sold out real soon.

They’re doing so well that they dedicated an entire shoplot just for it. That place was previously Peppino’s Pizza (also by the same owner).

There’s a bunch of things you’ll expect from a chicken rice place – char siew, roasted chicken, duck, innards, siew yoke, braised egg and also some that you won’t.

…like this Foochow style curry chicken.

It’s the same thing I’ve eaten as a kid – there used to be three compartments (not including your rice) and I’ll have curry chicken for all of them). Arthur ordered this one for us – he was kind enough to pick us up from the airport. It’s milder (in spiciness rating) than regular curry yet more intense (they put a lot of the curry powder). A peculiarity of Foochow cuisine.

The signboards are new and there’s a lot of people eating there but what I really crave is kampua mee. Unfortunately, everyone was sold out then (must be the people coming back for elections!!!) so we had lunch here.

It’s not too bad though, I think most people come here for the rice – it’s fragrant and what makes Chopsticks Chicken Rice special! The char siew is also good – glazed with honey and with no color additives that makes it radioactive red.

I’m kidding, I just chanced upon that while heading to my first appearance. I was at MidValley last Saturday on the 3rd of November to giveaway more than 100+ ice cream scoops in cones and cups. It was supposed to be my first appearance and I’ll learn more from this for my second appearance, which is this weekend! :)

I started setting up at around 2:30 pm and I had unfortunately only brought 1 notebook along for voting. This created a huge bottleneck there as people who wanted to vote got tired of waiting. I shall have to do something about this for the next one.

I’ll bring another notebook to the next session so there will be more “voting stations”, so to speak. It is an election after all. ;)

I have allocated all of my budget to giving away free ice cream and ice cream cakes. I decided to “get on the ground” (yup, lots of political terms here going on here) and get the attention of passerby’s by telling them about it. Haha. I wanted all of the budget to go towards ice cream for everyone! :D

Actually, that was A LOT of fun. Now I know how those credit card sales promoters feel like. I have been rejected before I even opened my mouth but on the other hand there were plenty who heard my pitch and request for votes and actually wanted to vote for me after I’ve explained what I was doing.

It was very heartwarming to see Sue Ann and Jamie helping with getting people and manning the voting station (which is a grand term for my notebook), even Samantha from Baskin-Robbins pitched in to help – many thanks for all that! :)

The first person!

I’ve been looking at the opinion polls on the Baskin-Robbins Malaysia Facebook page and it’s good to see a lot of people participating in that too. This is actually going to be taken into consideration so your input would be awesome!

I voted for Exotic – sea salt ice cream or hot & spicy. It would be great to see more unique flavors in Baskin-Robbins here.

I’ll love to eat a steak flavored ice cream! How about that? An ice cream flavor that tastes like a meal! Heh! It would certainly be intriguing.

…or even better, see something like a limited time promotional flavor for Christmas – turkey with cranberry sauce! Won’t that be something? I bet people would want to try it just out of curiosity. I certainly would! :)

There are also other opinion polls ranging from what CSR activities you want Baskin-Robbins Malaysia to do to what kind of promotion you think gives you the best value for your buck. Join in if you want your voices heard!

The last family I gave ice cream to at 5:03 pm!

I’ll be having another appearance at Baskin-Robbins Sunway Pyramid this Sunday 11th November where I will not only give out ice cream cones and scoops for free but also ice cream cake vouchers at random!

The ice cream cakes are sold at RM 55 each and you can redeem it right there and then if you want.

In addition to the 500 free Junior ice cream scoops I’m giving away, those 30 ice cream cakes will bring the total to RM 4,400 worth of Baskin-Robbins ice cream products (that’s not including the service charge). I told you all my campaign fund is going to spreading happiness. :)

…and that’s surprisingly what I felt good about the most – the people who waited in line to vote after listening to what I’m doing and the people who came for ice cream. It felt good giving away ice cream especially when someone told me how grateful she was coz she’ll never be able to spend her money on this. I was touched by that.

Anyway, if you want some of the ice cream cake action, I’ve got several to give out at random at my next appearance:

There will be no one left behind! This is a new policy I dub CR1M – just think of it as a variation of BR1M (as in free ice CR1M, geddit ;)) to spread joy and cheer during the next few weeks.

Well, as you can probably extrapolate from my vague post – I will be running for elections!

This is a different kind of election, but important nonetheless.

I have a couple of ideas – huddle up coz it’s going to be AWESOME for all of you readers of sixthseal.com.

I’m calling this campaign COOKIES N’ CR1M!

It’s hard living in this hot and humid weather and I want to make things easier for everyone – happiness should shared all around and here’s a simple breakdown on what I’m going to do on my election trail:

30 Baskin-Robbins ice cream cakes to be given out to share with your friends, family or coworkers

There are no catches or hoops to jump through, the premise of the flavor I’m representing is spreading happiness and unity among the people. Cookies ‘n Cream Ice Cream is the embodiment of that – it’s universally loved, a comfort flavor when you’re feeling down and you can come and bring along your friends to share in the fun!

I’ll even be at the outlet at Gardens for a couple of weekends!

I’m always open to suggestions to let me know how I can make your life better! A vote for Cookies ‘n Cream Ice Cream is a vote for unity! :)

I’m will be running against four other candidates representing other flavors and if I win this Baskin-Robbins Flavor Elections there will be a permanent pledge where you can:

Buy 1 Blast and get 50% off the 2nd Blast!

This is my campaign promise and the promotion will be available at all Baskin-Robbins stores during my campaign period of 17th October to 23rd November!

If I win (support me!) this promotion will be applicable for ONE YEAR – every weekday from 10 am – 3 pm! :D

What’s a Blast?

It’s an ice-blended drink filled with flavor! I nicked that from the Baskin-Robbins page – I personally like the Mocha Blast. There’s also Cappuccino Blast, Chocolate Blast, Cookie Blast, Mint Blast and Caramel Blast if Mocha Blast is not your cup of tea.

Flavor: It’s vanilla ice cream with lots of cookie chunks throughoutFun facts: This was introduced in 1985 as a Flavor of the Month. It became an immediate hit with the customers and remains one of Baskin-Robbins most loved flavors to this day. That’s 27 years of glory!

I’ll like to make it even more popular and you can help me by downloading my Campaign Support Kit (sounds grand eh?) here.

Remember to be at the victory party on November 23rd at Publika! I’ll give out more details soon but keep that date locked down! :D

I’ll be constantly updating on where and when the free ice CR1M giveaways will be happening on my social media avenues – there will be days when you can just come for your free single scoop of Baskin-Robbins ice cream cones, and there will be times when I’ll randomly give out Baskin-Robbins ice cream cakes during the entire campaign trail on my Facebook, Twitter and blog so follow me to catch up on the details of the latest giveaways!